BURLINGTON, Vt. — The recent shootings of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont’s largest city come as the small rural state, often ranked as one of the nation’s safest, is grappling with a spike in gun violence.
Two days after the students were shot and seriously wounded during their Thanksgiving break, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said it “was one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history.”
Statewide, Vermont has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death since October, including a double homicide in Burlington, Weinberger said. Burlington has seen 16 gunfire incidents so far this year, he said, adding that Vermont’s largest city is not alone.
“Many communities are experiencing an alarming rise in gun violence with recent shootings happening in Newport, Danville, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, Castleton, Leicester, Brookfield,” Weinberger said at the time.
Overall the country had a 6% decrease in national firearms homicides between 2021 and 2022, but Vermont saw a 185% jump, according to Vermont State Police Capt. Shawn Loan.
“So we went from seven firearms deaths in 2021 to 20 in 2022,” he said, adding that he did not yet have the current total for this year.
About half of the homicides in Vermont involved a firearm between 2017 and 2021, he said. Last year that rose to 86%, Loan said.
While authorities are investigating the shooting of the students as a possible hate crime, many of the homicides around Vermont this fall are likely drug-related and all are isolated from each other, Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew Birmingham said.
“Vermont is experiencing many drug-related issues. Fentanyl is a huge problem for this state and the country, for that matter,” said Birmingham. “Our overdose death rate is climbing every year, which is a problem and something that should be on everybody’s radar.”
The shooting deaths this fall have taxed the short-staffed Vermont State Police, which has…
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